That's a 20 percent increase from last season's 5.4 million pounds. Coffee farmers are expected to receive an average of $3.10 per pound this season, up 3 percent from last season.
About 70 percent of the state's coffee production is expected to come from Maui, Molokai, Kauai and Oahu, the state Department of Agriculture office said. The estimated harvest is 4.5 million pounds, up 55 percent from last season.
Much of this increase is at Island Coffee Co. which has about 4,000 acres in coffee plantings at Numila, Kauai. The plantation is one of the largest in the United States.
The company said that this season's harvest appears to be one-third higher than last year's 1.8 million pounds. This was due to good weather, factory improvements and more efficient harvesting practices, said Lyle Wilkinson, general manager at Island Coffee, part of A&B Hawaii Inc.
The dry weather earlier this season, which began in September, is not expected to hurt production on Kauai, Maui, Molokai and Oahu because most of the fields are irrigated, the state said. The average price to farmers on the four islands is estimated at $2.39 a pound. But Big Island farmers have been hurt by the weather, the state said, estimating a coffee crop of 2.0 million pounds, down 20 percent from last year. Coffee prices to farmers are expected to be $4.70 a pound, up 2 percent from last year.